Conflict, conflict resolution and the children of Northern Ireland: Towards understanding the impact on children and families

The authors of this paper use a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the effects of conflict and conflict processes on children in Northern Ireland. Employing an ecological-transactional analysis of conflict processes, with its emphasis on multiple levels of influences on children, the authors focus on psychological, sociological, and familial processes affected by the communal conflict in that land and their effects on children. According to the authors, the effects of conflict in society, community, and family negatively influence children’s sense of security and their ability to regulate emotional and behavioral responses to conflict. Affected children are more likely to exhibit emotional and behavioral problems in their relationships as they develop. At the same time, children are highly sensitive to conflict resolution; emotionally and behaviorally, they benefit significantly from resolution of conflict in family, community, and society.